Technical Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to the calibration of a sensor, such as an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope.
Related Background
An accelerometer (also referred to as a motion sensor) measures proper acceleration, which is the acceleration it experiences relative to a freefall (or the inertia). Proper acceleration is associated with the phenomenon of weight experienced by a proof mass that resides in a frame of reference of the accelerometer. An accelerometer measures the weight per unit of the proof mass, a quantity also known as specific force, or g-force. Conceptually, an accelerometer behaves as a damped mass on a spring. When the accelerometer experiences acceleration, the position of the proof mass is displaced with respect to the frame. The displacement is measured to determine the acceleration.
A gyroscope (also referred to as a rotation sensor) measures the angular velocity of a system in the inertial reference frame. By using the original orientation of the system in the inertial reference frame as the initial condition and integrating the angular velocity, the system's current orientation can be known. Conceptually, a gyroscope is a spinning rotor which maintains its orientation based on the principle of conservation of angular momentum. This phenomenon can be used for measuring and maintaining orientation in many applications, such as compasses and stabilizers in aircraft and spacecraft.
Accelerometers and gyroscopes have been incorporated into a variety of consumer electronics. The integration of accelerometers and gyroscopes allows for more accurate and robust augmented reality (AR) applications, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) applications, computer vision applications, navigation applications, stability control applications, and a wide range of other applications.